


Reshelving

by Fatespeaker



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:41:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23524000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fatespeaker/pseuds/Fatespeaker
Summary: As Jade Mountain Academy slowly recovers from the recent Darkstalker disaster, Fatespeaker and Starflight reshelve the library. They exchange their usual light gossip while sorting through the scrolls, and Fatespeaker tries to work up the nerve to ask her best friend a heartfelt question.(One-shot. Set right after Darkness of Dragons. Super fluffy!)
Relationships: Fatespeaker/Starflight (Wings of Fire)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Reshelving

Librarians keep their secrets.

Fatespeaker lived by that oath, and though she and Starflight had laughed while swearing it, she respected it in all solemnity. No dragon would ever know that Qibli had checked out the entire _Lovelorn Lizards_ series or that Anemone and Tamarin had twined tails while doing their history homework last week. A good assistant librarian keeps her snout shut.

That is, she keeps it shut until her best friend and totally-not-crush-why-would-you-say-that Starflight is helping her shelve scrolls past midnight. That's a sacred time, you see. That's when _all_ the gossip comes out.

Starflight had returned to the sciences section. It was conveniently labelled with a sign that screamed "SCIENCES!" in piercing pastel colors (made by Sunny, of course), along with the more modest pattern of bumps that Starflight used to identify it.

He was struggling with sorting through a tall stack of new scrolls about scavenger habits. Though they had been embossed with patterns that he could read with his talons, there were so many that it would be awfully hard for anyone, even with a dragon with perfect vision, to put them in order.

"Here, let me!" Fatespeaker said helpfully, hurrying over. She lit a nearby lamp with a quick breath of fire and squinted at the scrolls' overly long titles. Then she got to work organizing the formidable collection, muttering each essay of a title under her breath.

"Thanks," Starflight said gratefully.

To which she replied, "Library squad forever!"

Starflight felt around for another stack of scrolls, this one a series about rare rainforest flora. Fatespeaker couldn't help wondering if anyone would even read them. It seemed to her that they would be better used as a gift for Fruitbat, since Glory was teaching the former RainWing queen to read.

 _So many new scrolls!_ she thought. Sorting them was a hard task, but not a thankless one. She loved how the library grew along with the school, loved watching the ebb and flow of the students passing through it. It seemed like some of Starflight's nerdiness had rubbed off on her. She smiled at that thought.

"Did you see - " Fatespeaker stopped herself. _Oops._ But Starflight didn't even twitch at her verbal misstep. He either didn't mind or was too caught up in his own thoughts to correct her. Fatespeaker still felt a pang of guilt in her chest, and paused before continuing. "Uh, Peril and Clay have been getting awfully close lately. I saw them sneaking off together for another morning flight!"

Still focused on his scrolls, Starflight murmured, "Clay was right, Peril's a good dragon. I feel bad for judging her." He shelved a set, then checked to make sure they were in alphabetical order. "Not that I would hug her now."

Fatespeaker nodded. "Yeah," she said aloud, "I remember saying hi when she first came here. I was nervous back then, but she turned out to be really cool."

Starflight stopped and grinned. Realizing the irony of what she had just said, Fatespeaker let out a snort of laughter. "Aaaargh, you know what I mean!" she cried.

"I've heard Moon and Qibli are flying the same breeze now," Starflight said, running a careful claw over the carved end of the next scroll. "Strange, I always thought she'd end up with Winter."

"Really?" Fatespeaker was so shocked she almost dropped her own scroll. " _Winter_?"

"I mean, they were always checking out scrolls about each other's tribes," he explained, shrugging his wings. "And her voice always goes up just a little - barely noticeable, really - when she talks about him."

"Ooh, perceptive," said Fatespeaker in begrudging agreement. Sighing softly, she added, "Well, I like Qibli. He's a romantic." The library record could prove that. "And I guess I am too."

Starflight snorted in amusement, releasing a little puff of smoke. Then, smiling, he got back to his work, and Fatespeaker, gulping down fear and fire, tried to silently steel her nerves before asking him her question. _The_ question.

 _Now or never, Fatespeaker._ She had just survived the return of Darkstalker, surely she could ask her best friend out on a date!

"I was wondering..." Fatespeaker began. "I mean, I had this vision. Because, uh, prophecy powers, you know..." She smiled sheepishly. "And I just thought... I mean, the, uh, the vision said we should..." _Now or never!_ "We should go to the Sun Festival together. _Together_ together. As friends, I guess, because we _are_ friends, but also as... uh, you know..."

Now Starflight stopped, his face slack with surprise, and Fatespeaker's heart dropped like a stone.

 _Oh no._ An embarrassed burst of flame built up in her churning belly as she fell, headfirst, into regret. _No no no no no. Why did I ask that? Why here? Why now?_

But then he smiled shyly, and turned toward her voice, and said, "Yes. Um, yes, of course. Yes. I'll go with you. I... I'd love to!" Then he laughed, his own awkwardness and fear clearly fading. "Library squad forever!" he cheered.

"Great!" Fatespeaker's wings fluttered with excitement. "But, uh, don't let Tsunami hear about this. She'll never stop teasing us."

Picking up another armful of scrolls, Starflight muttered, "I grew up getting teased by Tsunami. It's like breathing for me."

" _I_ didn't grow up with her," said Fatespeaker. "That's probably why I think she's so awesome. Isn't it crazy how _three_ of your friends are royalty. Awesome!"

"You think everyone here is awesome," Starflight reminded her, poking her with his tail.

Fatespeaker laughed. "What? It's an awesome school!"

They had come to the end of the pile. One scroll left: a terribly boring treatise on IceWing government that Webs made everyone read for some reason. Maybe he thought he could bore his students into opposing the Ice Kingdom's oppressive laws. Even Moon, at the height of her Winter crush, wouldn't have checked that out of her own volition.

"You know," said Fatespeaker, drumming the old, mildewed scroll with her talons, her tail thumping the same beat against the floor, "when I was a little dragonet..." She gulped. "In that cave, with all the others, I actually... I always dreamed of a place like this. Somewhere where all the weird dragons like me... like us... would finally have a place to belong. And I always thought it was impossible, what with the war going on. All those horrible stories. Every day, more blood..."

She shuddered, her voice dwindling, as a dam inside her broke and the memories came rushing back. The pain. The fear. The weight of it all. It was a secret she kept deep inside of her; the lead anchor of a past that pulled at her even now. She kept it hidden most of the time. No need for that kind of talk in her wonderful new world of fun and gossip. Only with Starflight could she share it. Only here, with him, could she start to push that weight off of her wings.

"But it's real now," she went on. Hope flickered in her heart as she opened it to her friend. Confidence, too. "It's all real. And I feel so safe here, so happy, so... awesome. I can't believe it sometimes. I can't believe how far we've come."

"I know." Starflight nodded. "Me too." He had flown those same, stormy skies. He knew that pain, and also that hope. Her stories and her secrets. And librarians keep their secrets. She trusted him... she _loved_ him for that.

He reached out for her, a gesture that she knew so well, and she responded in the way that _he_ knew so well, wrapping a warm wing around him. Tucked into his cautious embrace, held as close as all their secrets, Fatespeaker found herself in the safest, happiest place she had ever known.

Then, sparkling and spontaneous, an idea fell into her head like a gift from the stars. They should go flying, should spring right out the window and soar out into the light of the twin moons. Just them, for a night. Two beautiful moons, two dorky NightWings, two hopeful hearts. She would be his eyes, guiding him with her wings, and he would be her light, her shining star. If only he would take the leap, would dare to try. And if only she would dare to ask!

"I have another prediction - a prophecy. We're going to go flying! Right now!" she exclaimed, shaking him a little. He sprang back, startled but smiling. "Just the two of us. Like we practiced." Her purple eyes shining with possibility, she squeezed his talons in hers. "But, uh, it'll only come true if you want it to. So, what do you say?"

Careful as ever, Starflight paused. He thought for a moment, stretching his glittering wings, as if mapping their bright future out in his own mind. Then, grinning, he replied, "Of course!"


End file.
